Monday, May 9, 2011

An advocate for the rational

Ron Hill was an Army (?) captain fighting the Taliban in Afghansitan. He's home now and has realized that fundamentalism is destroying America. That isn't enough to make him a liberal, but is enough to start prodding his fellow GOP. He has created the website Republicans 4 Freedom to do that prodding, calling himself an advocate for the rational wing of the Republican Party. He has reminded the GOP we live in a republic -- a representative democracy -- and there must be safeguards to protect minority from the tyranny of the majority.

Hill's biggest effort is aimed at the cozy relationship between the GOP and the professional anti-gay leaders. He pointed out the leaders, one being Bryan Fisher of National Organization for Marriage, don't have academic or scientific credentials and don't have training in human behavior. They make up statistics and distort research. Their goal is to demonize fellow Americans. Yet the media treats them as "experts." Even worse, GOP candidates seek the endorsement of these guys. And the party encourages it.

Another post notes that the Fundies are not conservative, they are authoritarian. That favors imposed order over freedom. Imposing your views of gays (and abortion and teaching creation) on the rest of the country is not "less government."

Hill's most recent essay is to give a brief history of social conservatism in America. Slavery was supported by the Bible. They predicted race wars. That didn't happen. Social conservatives lost. They pushed for prohibition, which resulted in violence and alcohol poisoning. The violence and death lessened with repeal. Conservatives lost. The used the Bible to justify not allowing women to vote. Society didn't fall apart when conservatives lost. They justified Jim Crow, tried to ban Elvis. Society didn't fall apart. They push "abstinence or marriage" and the South leads the nation in unwed mothers, sexually transmitted diseases, and abortions. They are now using the Bible to justify demonization of gay people, claiming society will fall apart. That claim is getting moldy.